Quotessence
Home / Authors / Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm

Erich Fromm Quotes

Psychologist

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsLoveArt Of LovingPeopleHumansIndividualLove IsMeanPersonsWorldGivingLifeNeedsPsicologíaThinkingAmorFeelsDoeWay

Famous Erich Fromm Quotes

“We try to evade the question of existence with property, prestige, power, possession, production, fun, and, ultimately, by trying to forget that we- that I- exist. No matter how much he thinks of God or goes to church, or how much he believes in religious ideas , if he, the whole man, is deaf to the question of existence, if he does not have an answer to it, he is marking time, and he lives and dies like one of the million things he produces. He thinks of God, instead of experiencing God.”

IfsThinkingMenTryingBelieveDoeIdeasMatterWholeWisdomDiesFunChurchReligiousAnswersForgetExistenceMillionsProducePropertyProductionsPossessionDeafPrestigeMarking TimeExperiencing God
Author:Erich Fromm
Create image

“We have, in the same way, relegated our own responsibility in what happens to our country to the specialists, who are supposed to take care of it, and the individual citizen does not feel that he can judge, and even that he should judge, and take any responsibility. I think there are quite a number of recent developments which show that.”

ThinkingWayFeelsShouldDoeCountryShowsHappensCareIndividualNumbersResponsibilityJudgingDevelopmentCitizensTake CareOur CountrySpecialists
Author:Erich Fromm
Create image

“If we begin to say, "Well, maybe we can cope better with the Russians if we also transform ourselves into a managed society, if we, as somebody put it the other day, train our soldiers to be like the Turks, who have fought so bravely in Korea, if we are willing to change our whole way of life for the sake of so-called "survival," then I think we do exactly that which threatens our survival.”

IfsThinkingWayWellsWholeWillingSurvivalTrainSakeSoldierKoreaWilling To Change
Author:Erich Fromm
Create image

“I think, to be specific, we got off the track when we concentrated more and more on production of things. Thereby, we created a split between intellect and emotion, because, in order to produce a modern technique, you have to use intellect, and we have created men who are very brilliant, who are very clever, but our emotional life has become impoverished.”

ThinkingMenUseOrderEmotionModernProduceEmotionalTrackProductionsIntellectBrilliantTechniqueCleverSplitsVery CleverEmotional Life
Author:Erich Fromm
Create image

“Our conscious motivations, ideas, and beliefs are a blend of false information, biases, irrational passions, rationalizations, prejudices, in which morsels of truth swim around and give the reassurance albeit false, that the whole mixture is real and true. The thinking processes attempt to organize this whole cesspool of illusions according to the laws of plausibility. This level of consciousness is supposed to reflect reality; it is the map we use for organizing our life.”

ThinkingGivingIdeasRealWholeUseRealityLawMotivationPassionBeliefProcessLevelsConsciousnessOur LivesInformationIllusionConsciousPrejudiceMapsSwimIrrationalOrganizeMixturesReassuranceThinking Process
Author:Erich Fromm
Create image

“If faith cannot be reconciled with rational thinking, it has to be eliminated as an anachronistic remnant of earlier stages of culture and replaced by science dealing with facts and theories which are intelligible and can be validated.”

IfsThinkingFactsReligionCultureFearAtheismStageTheoryRationalReplacedRational ThinkingRemnants
Book:Man for Himself: An Inquiry Into the Psychology of Ethics
Create image

“We forget that, although freedom of speech constitutes an important victory in the battle against old restraints, modern man is in a position where much of what "he" thinks and says are the things that everybody else thinks and says; that he has not acquired the ability to think originally - that is, for himself - which alone gives meaning to his claim that nobody can interfere with the expression of his thoughts.”

ThinkingMenGivingImportantAbilityForgetModernPositionExpressionVictoryBattleSpeechClaimsFreedom Of SpeechInterfereRestraintModern Man
Book:Escape from Freedom
Create image